omitting BLISS_USE_GMP causes mysterious failures

[David Bremner]

From http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=692449

[Impact]

In versions 0.72-2 and 0.72-3, if the user
neglects to define the preprocessor symbol BLISS_USE_GMP when
compiling their code, it will build successfuly but segfault at
runtime. This is fixed in -4. The fix in -3 is needed for this to
work transparently.

bliss is a leaf package in Wheezy, but I've already had bug reports
(on the bugtracker of an upstream project) for -3.
[Test case]
Install libbliss-dev 0.72-3 (or probably -2, untested)

compile the attached C++ file (from the bliss source package) like

% g++ -o crashme -I/usr/include/bliss bliss.cc -lbliss

run on any input, e.g.

c An example graph.
p edge 4 5
n 2 1
e 1 2
e 4 1
e 2 3
e 2 4
e 3 4

The result is a segmentation fault.

I'm not running Ubuntu, but I have confirmation from Ubuntu users on 12.04 and 12.10 that this failure occurs there.

[Fix]

The fix 0.72-4.

Here is the debdiff, less the changelog stanzas.

diff -u bliss-0.72/debian/Makefile.shlib bliss-0.72/debian/Makefile.shlib
--- bliss-0.72/debian/Makefile.shlib
+++ bliss-0.72/debian/Makefile.shlib
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
  $(CC) -fPIC -c $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $<

 libbliss.so: $(GMPSHOBJS)
- $(CC) -shared -Wl,-soname,$(SONAME) -o $(SOFULL) $^
+ $(CC) -shared -Wl,-soname,$(SONAME) $(LIB) -o $(SOFULL) $^
  ln -sf $(SOFULL) $(SONAME)
  ln -sf $(SOFULL) libbliss.so

only in patch2:
unchanged:
--- bliss-0.72.orig/defs.hh
+++ bliss-0.72/defs.hh
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@
   along with Foobar. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 */

+#undef BLISS_USE_GMP
+#define BLISS_USE_GMP

 namespace bliss {

[ Regression Impact]

It is remotely possible (although I don't see how in this case) that any change to installed headers could cause user code to FTBFS. As far as I can tell, this will actually be an improvement over compiling fine and then segfaulting.

[David Bremner (bremner)]

For precise this also contains the change from 0.72-3 that cause the bliss shared library to be explicitly linked against GMP.
This change has been tested in 12.10. Of course I can produce a patch without it, if needed.

[David Bremner (bremner)]

-minimize changelog
-use version ${precise_version}ubuntu0.1

[David Bremner (bremner)]

- minimize changelog
-use version ${precise_version}ubuntu0.1

[David Bremner (bremner)]

- revise changelog (put back info from deleted debian stanzas)

[David Bremner (bremner)]

update changelog

[Benjamin Drung (bdrung)]

Thanks. I have uploaded your last iteration to quantal-proposed and precise-proposed.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Hello David, or anyone else affected,

Accepted bliss into quantal-proposed. The package will build now and be available at http://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bliss/0.72-3ubuntu0.1 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, and change the tag from verification-needed to verification-done. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Hello David, or anyone else affected,

Accepted bliss into precise-proposed. The package will build now and be available at http://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bliss/0.72-2ubuntu0.1 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, and change the tag from verification-needed to verification-done. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

[David Bremner (bremner)]

polymake developer Michael Joswig reports

   I can confirm that it works on Ubuntu 12.04. Thanks!

polymake developer Ben Mueller reports

 On quantal upgrading libbliss to 0.72-3ubuntu0.1 (and recompiling the
 extension) also solved the segfaults.

I can provide more details if needed, unfortunately the polymake bug tracker (where those messages come from) is not public at the moment.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

The verification of this Stable Release Update has completed successfully and the package has now been released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regresssions.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package bliss - 0.72-2ubuntu0.1

---------------
bliss (0.72-2ubuntu0.1) precise-proposed; urgency=low

  * Force BLISS_USE_GMP to be defined so that user compiled code matches
    the library (LP: #1087771).
  * Link libbliss.so.1d.0 against gmp (Closes: #685390), make above fix
    transparent to user.
 -- David Bremner <email address hidden> Sat, 08 Dec 2012 10:08:55 +0100

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package bliss - 0.72-3ubuntu0.1

---------------
bliss (0.72-3ubuntu0.1) quantal-proposed; urgency=low

  * Force BLISS_USE_GMP to be defined so that user compiled code matches
    the library (LP: #1087771).
 -- David Bremner <email address hidden> Sat, 08 Dec 2012 10:06:45 +0100